Greens save Labor but attack government

Date: February 25 2013

Paul Osborne, AAP Senior Political Writer

The Australian Greens saved Labor from the embarrassment of a successful no confidence motion in the Senate, as the prime minister warned the states she wants their agreement on a new schools funding scheme.

The federal opposition moved a rare motion of no confidence in the Senate attacking Labor's handling of its mining tax, as the upper house sat on Monday. The House of Representatives did not sit.

The motion, which failed as the Greens voted with Labor, came less that a week after the minor party severed its alliance with the government signed in the aftermath of the 2010 hung parliament.

Coalition Senate leader Eric Abetz told the upper house it was a chance for the Greens - which want Labor to redesign the mining tax to generate more money - to "tell the Australian people whether they have confidence" in the government.

As he watched government Senate leader Stephen Conroy negotiating in the chamber with the Greens to ensure the motion would be lost, Senator Abetz said: "It was very telling to see these people who allegedly ripped up the marriage certificate are there in deep discussion."

Senator Abetz said the mining company chiefs who negotiated the minerals resource rent tax (MRRT) with Labor before the 2010 election "did them like a dinner".

"Economic illiteracy is their strong suit," he said of the government.

Finance Minister Penny Wong said the motion was a "grandstanding stunt".

Unlike a no confidence motion in the lower house, which could topple a government, a similar motion in the upper house has no procedural, legal or other effect.

Greens leader Christine Milne reminded the Senate her party had guaranteed confidence and supply to the government, despite ending their agreement.

But she criticised Labor and the coalition over the mining tax, which Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has promised to abolish if he becomes prime minister.

"How fair is it, when people are living below the poverty line, that you've got a coalition saying it's fine for BHP to make their $9 billion," Senator Milne said.

"It's fine as far as the government's concerned not to fix the mining tax, but instead to leave the Gonski implementation until 2019 ... and not to fund them."

The Gonski schools funding plan, which requires an extra $6.5 billion a year, will be on the agenda when Ms Gillard meets with state and territory leaders in April.

So far, the coalition-held states of Victoria, WA and Queensland have played down the prospect of a deal with Labor to provide the extra money.

"There will be some argy-bargy and some carry-on around it," Ms Gillard told reporters in Canberra.

"But I am determined to push through all of that and get this done."

Mr Abbott has held his own talks with state premiers on schools funding and called on Ms Gillard to stop "playing politics".

"They are determined to do the right thing by their schools," he said in Townsville.

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